unlike some of the competitive navies, the french or spanish, in the british navy, a british naval officer had to stop as a midshipman. he had to be able to do -- start as a midshipman. he had to be able to do every job on the ship. they were not the aristocracy given commands -- giving commands. they were middle-class people who became highly professional. and competent. their crews were built on being highly professional and competent. as you know, to a degree, cruise benefited when they captured or destroyed any ship -- crews benefited when they captured or destroyed any ship. to a degree, they became entrepreneurs of battle. what nelson understood was they were self-motivated and extraordinarily competent entities. what he had to do was move them into position where those motivations and those talents could be put in position. he did not have to fight the fight. he did not have to micromanage. he had to build them into confident, competent, capable, self-contained crews and leaders, maneuver them into position where they could have the effect that he wanted, and then do it. that was ve